Poets, Patrons, and Printers: Crisis of Authority in Late Medieval France.

Cynthia Brown begins her study of authors, printers, and patrons with the discussion of a legal controversy in 1504 between an author, Andre de la Vigne, and a printer, Michel Le Noir. But Brown's book is in no way a study of the dry, formulary language of the law court. Instead, the lawsuit brought by La Vigne against the printer Le Noir, who published Le Vergier d'honneur (of which La Vigne was the major contributor) without permission, is the stage scenery which Brown uses to focus upon her major theme of the author's role, indeed his changing role, in the printing enterprise in sixteenth-century France. La Vigne won his case in court. The judgment raised the "issue of literary property to a level never before known" (19), while this process and others demonstrated the rising consciousness of the author as creator of his literary text.

Brown has noticed a shift in the relationship between author and printer as well as between author and the reading public in the early sixteenth century. The development of typography allowed authors to extend themselves in time and space through the printed word; authors became more central to their books and the production process, replacing the former quasi-literary anonymity and sharing of ideas. Since the book trade became an important factor in the growth of capitalism, authors became more involved in the publication of their works, seeking greater control in regard to printing and greater identification with their own words.

The roles of author and patron reveal the same shifting roles as author and printer. On the title page of Lemaire's Temple d'honneur the names of Lemaire's mentor Jean Molinet, who inspired much of the work, and his former patron, Pierre of Bourbon, appear with his own, indicating an important poetic as well as political connection. Lemaire and others did not scorn print culture, partly from the acceptance of print by the humanists. In addition, Lemaire needed broader public support, which he hoped to gain with the printed word just as the king used print to foster his political purposes.

The title page and the colophon of texts, which Brown defines as paratext, also reveal the evolving relationships of author and printer. Using Jean Moline as a paradigm, Brown demonstrates that, contrary to manuscript books where the author's name appeared in fifteenth-century anthologies, the early imprints in Paris of Molinet's Le Temple de Mars did not carry the name of the author on the title page; indeed, the publications of the work by Le Petit Laurens (ca. 1491), Trepperel, de Vingle and Le Noir presented paratexts which were contrary to the author's intentions. Instead of condemning war, as Molinet's text made clear, the title page of the Parisian imprint actually glorified Mars as a prince surrounded by his courtiers. The 1502 edition in Lyon, however, depicted on its title page the horrors of war, thereby upholding the intent of the text, while omitting the names of both printer and author. By the first quarter of the sixteenth century, posthumous editions of Le Temple de Mars appeared with the name of the author, indicating Molinet's increasing renown as well as the shifting relationship of author, bookseller, and printer. In these later editions the author and bookseller held more important space in the paratext than did the printer. When the book was seen as a commodity for financial gain, the author's spirit was often detached from the written text; in addition, since the reading public was anonymous, the author, contrary to the author-patron relationship, became more detached from his public. Brown correctly points out that there was constant intersection of the role of the book as gift and the book as commercial transaction.

In the second half of her book Brown shows how authors used identities and their names as anagrammatic signatures or as puns in their texts. These ambiguous signatures or the straightforward printing of the author's name, reveal their desire to maintain control over their works and reflect their growing autonomy. In the final chapter Brown discusses authorial and narrative voices by suggesting the overlap between the meanings of aucteur (author) and acteur (actor). As French authors were gaining control over the reproduction and dissemination of their works, "a convergence of the two terms denoting an author as an authoritative figure was taking place" (204).

Brown concludes her work with an "afterword" about Clement Marot's cooperation with his publisher, Etienne Dolet, both of whose names appear on the title page of the 1538 editions of Marot's (Euvres. This little nugget of information about Marot, which speaks concisely about printing problems that caused repercussions in the religious arena, is typical of the little treasures of knowledge stored in Brown's book on the evolving role of author and printer. Her convincing analysis of these relationships in regard to the printing of literary works in late medieval France will incline us to look for similar relationships in other genre and in other countries.

MARION LEATHERS KUNTZ Georgia State University